Networ-King said:
If it aint my good ol pal SWAFO....
Normal people would be able to tell from the ATR time in my profile that I flew for the commuters, but I guess you were too eager to slam me, so you must have skipped it. If you want to find the know it all on this board then you need to look in the mirror. Big brown is a great place to be, but with cabotage and scope this place might not be around either. Make no mistake about it none of us are safe in this industry. Specially with the new breed of pilots like OUT. You could really use a piece of humble pie SWAFO cause your not safe in this industry either. Time will tell, now go fly your 1000 hours a year and make that money

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Networ-King,
Please don't interpret this as an insult, for I am typing this as an observation.
Based on your profile, I am assuming that you are still on probation. i.e., you have been here less than a year. You say that this is a great place to be, and you are right. You also mention cabotage and scope with regards to stability here, at least that is the tone that I sensed in your above statement.
I don't think you fully understand how scope and cabotage affect this place, and until you have been here a considerable amount of time, one won't.
This isn't Delta Air Lines or like any other passenger airline. In fact, I don't consider this place an airline at all. It is a multi-billion dollar transportation conglomerate, and many of the problems faced on the pax side of the fence are not felt here. In other words, what will affect a passenger airline will not affect a trucking company.
I don't think anybody is safe is ANY industry. Some companies are stronger than others and some have longevity odds that are greater than others. We happen work for a company in an industry that is a huge part of the U.S. and world economy. We are diversified, and if you enjoy flying airplanes, this is definitely one of the more secure places to sink your teeth into.
But, don't make assumptions about the future with regards to cabotage and scope until you have been here a while and have seen how the night side works. One of my pet-peeves is when people try to analyze the package and cargo industry with a pax-airline mentality.
Get rid of that, because we are not airline pilots. We move packages. We operate heavy machinery whose design and intent is to move cargo. We are no different than the truck drivers in that our jobs accomplish the same objective: facilitate the movement of goods from point A to point B.
And one more thing: please be nice. SWA guys may fly 1000 hours a year, but we choose to be away from home for up to 16 days at a time too.